Anna and Étienne's Wedding
by amabethchase
Summary: Post-IatHEA, Anna and Étienne get married in Paris. One-shot.


"I really appreciate you flying all the way here, Rashmi."

"Honestly? I just wanted to see if that Lola girl you guys talk about was real," Rashmi said quietly, eyeing Lola across the room. She'd embellished her bridesmaid dress with obscene amounts of glitter, and at least six extra layers of tulle, but Anna didn't mind at all. "And if you're worried about Josh, he's got nothing on Max," Rashmi continued, referring to her new boyfriend from Brown. Anna couldn't disagree.

Yet, neither Max nor Josh had anything on Étienne.

_I'm getting married today. _The realization hit her not for the first time that day, sending waves of anticipatory anxiety crashing through her. Soon, she would be twenty years old and married to the love of her life. Anna knew some people who were opposed to this (namely Mr. St. Clair) but that didn't matter; she figured she was more lucky than "in too much of a damn rush" or "acting impulsively" (snippets of a harsh phone conversation she'd overheard between Étienne and his father.)

"Anna!" Bridge squealed, reentering the makeshift room at the church where all the bridesmaids were getting ready. "It's time to—" she stopped, sucking in a sharp, surprised gasp. "You look _amazing_," she gushed.

Anna laughed and waved off the compliment, but she _felt _amazing. She'd let Lola design the bridesmaids' dresses but had found her own dress at a vintage shop in Paris. Supposedly, it was made by the same designer who designed Sofia Coppola's wedding dress, and that was enough to sell Anna on it. It was made of mostly white silk, and made her feel like a glamorous 40's film icon. It was strapless and flared slightly at the waist, flowing gracefully to her precariously tall heels. Isla had tried to help her practice walking in them, but she was going to rely heavily on her father to ensure she didn't stumble her way down the aisle. Lola convinced her to apply red lipstick and minimal eye makeup, to "make it pop," and when pulling her hair back into an elegant twist, made sure to make her platinum streak show.

"Anyway," Bridgette said, "Your mom says you have to go out there. St. Clair is waiting for you." She raised an eyebrow suggestively.

"Thanks, Bridge," Anna said, her stomach fluttering with nerves. Not the bad kind.

"At least you don't have to go first," Isla pointed out, smoothing out her crown of glossy red curls.

"You know," Lola said with mock seriousness as they headed for the door, "You don't have to go through with this. How can you be sure this is how you want to live the rest of your life? How can you be sure—"

"Are you quoting my dad's latest book?" Anna realized, horrified.

Lola grinned. "Believe it or not, _my_ dad is a huge fan."

Anna laughed. "As long as it's not Cricket."

Anna could hear the piano faintly from behind the closed doors of the church, when they reached them. Her stomach turned with anticipation. _Étienne is behind those doors. Étienne is waiting for me to marry him._

The boys were waiting for their respective bridesmaids; Cricket and Lola, Josh and Isla. Meredith and Rashmi had also been appointed bridesmaids. Anna couldn't believe she'd only met them two years ago.

The wedding was going to be small; not more than forty people. It wasn't easy to get a whole wedding party to Paris.

Anna hid out of sight of the doors and waved her friends on as they marched down the aisle, which seemed to take hours. _Move faster. I'd like to be married already. _

_And where is my dad?_

Just as Meredith and Rashmi (who'd decided to walk together) disappeared through the doors, her father came running towards Anna. "I'm sorry," he said, not looking very sorry at all. "I had to take this call. They're making a movie out of another one of my novels." He rolled his eyes, and Anna normally would have been vexed by his behavior, but was wholly unfazed today. She wasn't going to let anything get in her way of being happy.

The piano music changed, and he offered his arm, grinning proudly. "You really do look beautiful, Anna," he said.

"Thanks, Dad." Maybe it wasn't his fault he was such an arrogant jerk all the time. Maybe she could forgive him.

Or at least not pick a fight with him until after the wedding, which he had generously paid for.

Anna steeled herself as they stepped through the doors and everyone stood to watch. She felt her face flush, and nearly tripped over her heels, but then she saw _him._

Étienne stood at the front of the church, wearing the biggest grin she'd seen on him in his life. He had never looked so entirely, thoroughly happy, and he looked exactly how she felt.

When she finally reached him her father gave her a small hug and released her to step up across from Étienne. To her horror, her left heel caught on her dress's hem, but she caught herself. He stifled laughter.

Anna knew she should be memorizing _all _of this moment; that she should be admiring the breathtaking stained-glass windows of the church and smiling at her family and friends who had made the trek all the way to France just for them. But she couldn't seem to tear her eyes away from her soon-to-be-husband.

"Anna," he said quietly, as the officiator began speaking (in French, naturally.) "You really took my breath away there. I was almost in need of some CPR."

"I'll gladly give it to you," she grinned. She could not. Stop. Smiling.

And before she knew it, the officiator was saying in a thick accent, "You may now exchange your vows."

They'd chosen to write their own, and Anna had spent weeks stressing over what to say. She'd decided to speak on the spot, hoping the writer in her would prevail, if just this once.

Étienne went first.

He took both of her hands in his, his big brown eyes staring earnestly into hers and sparkling with the deepest kind of happiness.

"I always thought the choice of who to marry would be difficult," he said. "That I wouldn't know if it was right, when the time came, maybe that I'd never get married. I was terrified. But, Anna, you were always the one. You tell people you don't, but _I _know that you believe in love at first sight, and that's what I had for you. What I _still _have for you. I have loved you since I actively campaigned to be your lab partner in first-period chemistry senior year, and I will never _not _love you. You're everything to me, Anna. You're my home."_  
_

The backs of her eyes burned; her throat was tight. She would _not _be the person who cried at their wedding. Definitely not.

It took everything she had not to close the space between them and kiss him, but she resisted and began her own vows.

"You have to know that you are the best thing that has ever happened to me," she began, realizing her voice was shaking slightly. She didn't like knowing forty pairs of eyes were on her, but she tried to imagine that she and Étienne were alone. "You gave me everything I needed; confidence, support, basic knowledge of the French language—" there were a few snickers at that "—but most importantly, you were my best friend. And you still are. I swear that I will never stop loving everything that you are in general and everything you are to _me_. God, I spent so long—a _year_—denying that I was in love with you and hiding my feelings, and I can't tell you how relieved I am that I don't have to do that ever again. Because even then, it was impossible. I love you too much to pretend I don't, and I will for the rest of my life."

Anna heaved a sigh of relief when she was finished. It was sappy, maybe, but she'd meant every word of it.

When they'd exchanged rings and were pronounced man and wife, or "_l'homme et la femme_," Étienne finally swept her into a showy, overexaggerated kiss that had their family clapping politely and friends cheering wildly. Anna never wanted to separate herself from him but, she reasoned, there would be plenty of time for that on their honeymoon.

Anna finally turned to face the crowd of people before they headed back down the aisle, together, and was shocked but pleased to see none other than St. Clair's father seated near the back of the church.

"Did you see—"

"I saw him," St. Clair said. "He approached me before the ceremony. He said he's still not happy, but he wouldn't feel right missing his only son's wedding."

"Are _you _happy?" Anna teased, dropping another kiss on his lips.

He grinned at her. "You'll never have to ask me that again."


End file.
